broken//matthew espinosa

Chapter 9: icecream

matthew
Everyone has a favorite flavor of ice cream growing up. Chocolate or vanilla. At class party's all you had was chocolate or vanilla. But I would say: "no thanks. I don't like either." And it wasn't because I was picky or anything. Hell no. If I wanted to, I would of taken the tub of ice cream and eat it right in front of the teacher. The reason I said no was because why do you need to choose between one or the other? Why not both? Or maybe it was because I didn't really care for ice cream back then. Or maybe it was because I just didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Choosing chocolate or vanilla can mean so many things to people, and it's your choice on how you put it.
It can just be an ice cream flavor, or a whole person.
But in my opinion, Stephanie is mint chocolate chip.
She's smart, has good taste in clothes, and keeps herself looking presentable even though she wants to throw up and die.
"What do you want to do?" She asks me, trying to slip on jeans and a shirt. It looks hard considering she's still soaking wet from the water.
"Take my shirt." I say, lifting up my shirt and giving it to her.
"What are you going to wear then?" I shrug.
"I can go shirtless?" She hits my stomach and smiles. She slips off her jeans and throws on my shirt. She looked really good. We packed up our things and put them in the car, and then headed to the board walk.
"How about we get some ice cream?" She asks.r
"Yeah! Let's go!" I pull her hand through the crowd of people until we reach the small ice cream place. She stops and presses her hands to her knees, out of breath and panting. I bend down to look at her face and it's red.
"What's wrong?" I ask her. She smiles and punches my shoulder lightly.
"Ow." I say, even though it didn't hurt. She stands up and kisses my arm.
"Better?" She asks. I smile and nod. We walk into the place and it's nice and cool inside. She walks over to the flavors of ice cream.
"I'll have chocolate brownie fudge." She smiles. That's what Carter would always get. Always always always. I look away from her and rub my eyes. She grabs my hand.
"You okay?" She asks lightly. I nod and I wrap my arm around her waist.
"Cheesecake." I say to the lady. She scoops out two cups and hands them to us.
"$7.00." She says. I reach into my pocket and take out the money, but Stephanie already payed.
"Don't worry, I got it." She says. I shake my head and sit down at a booth. She sits down across from me and starts on her ice cream. I don't touch it yet.
"It's going to melt." She says. She scoops some on her spoon and eats it. I don't mind. She sighs.
"What's wrong?" She asks.
"Ah it's nothing." I tell her. She nods, clearly knowing it's something.
"Carter?" She says. I nod and take a bite of my ice cream. It melts in my mouth as I scoop another spoonful into my mouth.
"Yours is good." She says, smiling.
"Mhm. Probably better than yours." I tell her. Her eye brows twitch and I can't help but laugh.
"Try mine." I shrug and taste hers. Tastes just how I remember it. But it's not a good memory. It's one that reminds me if Carter. Not that he's a bad memory, just that he's gone now so I can't think of him being happy.
"Good." I say. She looks around the place and then stares at me.
"People are staring at you." She whispers. I look up to see almost every girl stating at me. What the hell?
"Why?" I laugh, taking another bite. She rolls her eyes.
"We'll your not the most unattractive person." She says. I chuckle and continue eating my ice cream. One of the girls comes up to me and sits down.
"Uh...can I help you?" I ask. I glance at Stephanie, her eyes all dark.
"Your hot." She says, chewing her gum right in front of my face.
"Uh....okay?" She twirls her hair and smirks at me.
"Why don't we go out later? Ya know, just us?" She glances at Stephanie.
"Um she's actually my girlfriend, and it would be nice if you left us alone." I push the girl out of the way and grab Stephanie's hand, pulling her out of the ice cream place.
"My ice cream!" She cries. I pull her down the boardwalk and into my car.
"What's up with you? You solved the problem. It's no big deal." I clench my jaw.
"I'm not losing someone I love again."